How to Open a Stripe Account in Ghana (Ultimate Guide)
If you’ve been looking for ways to open a verified stripe account in Ghana, you’re at the right place. In this comprehensive guide, you’ll learn how to open a stripe account in Ghana. You’ll also know the requirements to open a stripe account in Ghana. This guide can also be used by other non-US citizens.
In case you’re asking what is stripe? Stripe is an online payment processing for internet businesses. Founded in 2010, Stripe now powers the transactions of some of the biggest brands in the world. It has the most powerful and flexible tools for eCommerce.
Whether you’re creating a subscription service, an on-demand marketplace, an e-commerce store, or a crowdfunding platform etc stripe helps you accept payment without stress.
Unfortunately, Stripe payment gateway is unavailable in Ghana and other African countries. This has become a bottleneck to anyone running an online business and wishes to use stripe as a payment gateway.
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Reasons Why You Should Use Stripe
Most entrepreneurs have issues when choosing a payment gateway for their businesses. If you’re into dropshipping with Shopify or WooCommerce you’ll notice that you’ve have limited options when it comes to payment integration.
Below are some of the reasons why you should use stripe as a payment gateway for your online business.
1. Stripe has the best pricing. There’s no setup fee and no monthly fee. Just a 2.9% + 30¢ domestic transaction fee (3.9% for international transactions).
2. Stripe doesn’t require a long-term agreement. You can start and stop using Stripe any time—there’s no long term subscription agreement or termination fee. Use it when you need it, and pay nothing when you don’t.
3. Stripe doesn’t require a merchant account. Unlike old-school gateways, you can use Stripe with any old bank account as long as the bank is located in the same country as your business.
4. Stripe supports subscription payments. If you want to charge for a recurring service or membership a lot of payment gateways don’t make it easy for you, but Stripe supports it right out of the box.
5. Stripe has the most capable and best-documented API. If you’re a programmer, I don’t need to say any more. But if you’re not a programmer, this means that if the off-the-shelf Stripe Gateways are missing a feature or integration you need, it’s easier for a programmer to add on to it than any other gateway, because Stripe was designed to be that way from the ground up. That’s how Stripe was able to add support for Bitcoin so quickly compared to the more established payment processors.
Requirements to Open a Stripe Account in Ghana
As earlier mentioned, Stripe isn’t supported in Ghana, however, I will show you how to open a verified Stripe account in Ghana for your online business. Below are the requirements for opening a stripe account in Ghana and other African countries.
- LLC Company Formation.
- EIN/Federal Tax ID.
- US Physical Address.
- Payoneer US Bank Account.
With all the listed documents in place, you can easily open a Stripe account anywhere Stripe isn’t supported in the world.
If you’re wondering how do I get all these requirements to open a stripe account, I am here for you. As I mentioned, I will show you how to get all the above-mentioned documents for your stripe account.
How to Form LLC Company and Get EIN
Please follow these steps below to form your LLC company and get your Employer Identification Number (EIN).
For this purpose, we’ll be using IncAuthority, and the state we would be forming our LLC is Kentucky. The reason for choosing Kentucky is because the state’s tax fee annual fee is cheap, just $15.
Other states like California charges $800 annual tax fee for LLC formation while Delaware charges $300 annual fee.
You’ll use IncAuthority to form your LLC and get your EIN/TAX ID. Just follow the steps below to get started.
Step 1: Sign Up at IncAuthority.com
- Visit the IncAuthority.com website, and click on the “start now for free” tab.
Step 2: Select Entity Type and Filling State
- The next step is to select Limited Liability Company (LLC) and in the Formation State, select Kentucky. Then click on Save & Continue.
Step 3: Enter Your Personal Details
In the next step, enter your First and last name, email address and US phone number. To get a US phone number, you can see our guide on how to get a US phone number. Alternatively, you can download DingTone app on your phone from play-store and buy a US phone number at $4.99.
Thereafter, click on save and continue.
Step 4: Enter Your Business Details
Enter your business name and business description (if you have a pet online store, say you have an online and you pet products). A brief description of your company, a sentence or two describing your business.
Select your business benefit and click save & continue.
Step 5: Business Address
Here you’ll be required to provide your US address to continue to the next step. You can get a free US address from Shipito.com.
Once you sign up, you’ll get a US address instantly, use it and continue your signup. This will late less than 3 minutes. Please note that in your US address, CA stands for California.
Step 6: EIN/Federal TAX ID
This step is where you will get your Employer Identification Number (EIN)/ Federal Tax ID. Now IncAuthority offers this service for just $49. This is considered to be one of the cheapest places to get one. Other places charge from $95 and above.
Please just tick the box as shown below. You’ll need to include it in your package because it is very important when it comes to opening a stripe account.
Click save and continue.
Step 7: Operating Agreement
The operating agreement is important because it provides proof you own the business. Select the operating agreement and proceed with the form.
Step 8: Addons
The next pages contain Addons and they include the following:
- INC Protection Advisor. $27/month.
- LawSuit Protection. – $99.
- Express Delivery – $49.
- Domain Name – $19
- Business License Package – $99
All these ad-dons are not important, so you can skip all of them until you get to the payment stage. Now to skip all these pages, you just have to tick “NO” then save and continue.
Step 9: Make Final Payments
At the end, you’ll only be paying for State Filing Fee, EIN and Operating Agreement.
Other formation companies charge a lot for offering this service but IncAuthority Charges $0 Service fee. Now you need to make payment using either Debit/Credit Card or PayPal.
If you don’t have a PayPal account, see our guide on how to open a verified PayPal account in Ghana.
For the Delivery Option, you can select $0 free delivery (Electronic Delivery) and they will be delivered to your email.
Once you place your order, IncAuthority will start creating your LLC Business Name. You’ll be sent some documents to sign. Download those documents read carefully and sign where appropriate, scan it and send it back to them.
These documents will be used to create your EIN/Federal Tax ID at the IRS. In 7 days time, your LLB Business Name and EIN/Federal Tax ID should be ready since the Kentucky Delivery Time is 7 days.
How to Setup a Verified Stripe Account?
After you must have formed your LLC and EIN/Federal Tax ID and they have been delivered.
You’ll need to use the details to set up a verified Stripe account and you need to be careful while doing this because their bots are intelligent enough and conversant to detect any mistake you make.
Follow the steps below to set up
- Country – United States.
- Business Address – Enter the US Address included in your EIN Document.
- Business Phone – Enter your US Phone Number (if you don’t have one, signup on Skype and purchase a Skype number at $7.99).
- Type of Business – Choose “Individual, Sole proprietor, or Singer Member LLC”.
- Employer Identification Number (EIN) – Enter your 9 Digits EIN Number.
- Business Website – Enter your business website and if you don’t have, enter your Business Facebook Page URL.
- Business Title – No matter what your business is all about Select “Clothing and Accessories”.
- Business Description – Enter “Online retail store dealing in consumer electronics, devices, pet items and toys”.
- Do you Ship the Products yourself? – Select “No”.
- How long after paying will your customers typically receive their goods or services? – “Select Within 2 weeks”.
- Legal Name – Enter your first and last name.
- Phone Number – Click the drop-down, choose your country and enter your phone number.
- Date of Birth – Enter your DOB Details.
- Last 4 Digits of Social Security Number (SSN) – Enter the last 4 digits of your EIN/Federal Tax ID Number.
- Home Address – Enter the same US Address you got from Shipito.
- Statement Descriptor – Enter your LLC Business Name.
- Customer Support Address – Tick the Blue Use Business Address.
- Bank Details – Go to your Payoneer dashboard ➔ Global Payment Service and Use your US Routing Number and Account Number to fill the boxes in Stripe.
- Two-Step Authentication – Click the Get Text Message and choose your country (Ghana), enter your phone number and enter the 6 digit code you’ll receive and verify your phone number.
- Submit your Application.
After submitting your application, go to your dashboard and you’ll see the verification status is currently at “Reviewing“.
Click on the Review Verifications and you’ll be taken to the page to submit your ID Card. Then click on “Verify Now”.
After submitting your ID, the status will change to Reviewing. Refresh the page after 10 – 30mins, you should see a “Verified” badge.
Frequently Ask Questions
Q. In my EIN form, what do I fill in the SSN section?
A. In the SSN section, enter FOREIGN in the box. This means you’re a non US citizen and has no SSN or EIN yet.
Q. How do I fill the members form sent to me by IncAuthority?
A. In the members form, enter your full name and enter your US address. If you’re a team, enter their names and US address.
(US address can be the address you got from Shipito or the one you bought).
Q. Can I use my Country ID to verify my Stripe identity without using a US ID?
A. Yes, stripe gives the option to select your home country and upload your ID.
